Mountain Peril Press Release
April 3, 2009
Mount Washington is one of the country's most beautiful and most dangerous destinations… and the perfect setting for a murder mystery. Police Seek Assistance in Mount Washington Fatality Union Leader, Manchester, NH - November 23, 2001 Slaying Prompts Warning to Hikers Boston Globe, Boston, MA - November 25, 2001 Critically acclaimed author Tom Eslick chose this location to set his most recent novel, Mountain Peril: A White Mountains Mystery.
His fourth book in the White Mountains series re-introduces us to high school science teacher and part-time search-and-rescue volunteer Will Buchanan. Eslick, an English teacher for more than 30 years and an emergency medical technician lead a group of students on an overnight field trip into the White Mountains several years ago. One night one of them asked "What would happen if one of us disappeared out here?" That one question served as the basis for the first book in the series: Tracked in the Whites. Eslick was compelled to find out who disappeared, why, and how Will Buchanan was going to discover who had kidnapped the young girl.
Murder, although uncommon, has occurred in the White Mountains including a number of disappearances. Harry Hunter arrived from Pittsburgh and promptly died of exposure on Mount Washington in 1874. He was only the seventh victim of this mountain's savage climate, but his story is unusual because, after his death, his body was not found until six years later. In 1912, a team of surveyors including John Keenan traveled to the summit. It was Keenan's first day on the job--and, as it turns out, his last. He stepped into a churning fog, less than 100 feet away from safety. His colleagues hollered and yelled, but no answer came. He was never seen again. -Eric Pinder, observer and staff writer, New Hampshire Mount Washington Observatory.
In Mountain Peril, a determined Will Buchanan finds himself in several life threatening situations while assisting with search-and-rescue efforts. The reader is led to believe it is the weather or Will's lack of experience… but is Will getting too close to the killer? Will he become an unexplained disappearance?
Eslick has been hiking the White Mountains for over 30 years, and has walked the Direttissima Trail near Pinkham Notch where Louise Chaput, an experienced hiker from Quebec was found stabbed to death. This still unsolved murder stirred Eslick's imagination in the writing of Mountain Peril, which is a blend of brilliantly rendered setting and expert storytelling.
I hope that you will consider reviewing Mountain Peril: A White Mountains Mystery, another exhilarating mystery told with Eslick's own brand of white knuckle suspense. I will follow up with you in a few weeks to answer any questions you may have. If you need additional information, please feel free to contact me at (603) 664-5776 or traci@bissonbarcelona.com. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Traci J. Bisson Senior Publicist